The Greatest Sage
by soundless steps
Summary: Naruto and Hinata have trained separately for 3 years and then became official chunin. Through a strange mission, they've gained a power unknown to the shinobi world. The wheel of fate turns, bringing forth the first shinobi for the second time.
1. Recap

Underlined speech is thought.

_Italicized words signify emphasis put on the words or a change in tone. You should be able to figure it out from the choice of words and the character._

_Sentences of thought that are completely italicized were spoken by another character while still being inside of the mind of the character that paragraph focuses on._

"**Bold thoughts are being transferred to the known recipient with others being unaware of the communication."**

CAPITALIZED SPEECH IS YELLING.

These are … interruptions in …speech caused … by things …like laughing,…crying, thought,.. and…others.

Words-with-dashes-between-them-consistently-signify-when-a-character-is-talking-too-fast-to-understand.

Words with tildes~ after them are spoken for longer~ periods of time.

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**This is the sequel of my previous story, The Ultimate Shinobi. This primary chapter is a complete recap of the first story condensed in under 7000 words. Each paragraph represents the next one, two, or three chapters.**

**The first real chapter will be out in two weeks and will start this story off with a bang.**

**11-7-10**

**Chapters 1-7; Hinata's Memories.**

An old man being chased by Iwa jonin encountered the Yellow Flash, who killed the pursuers. The elderly man convinced the famous shinobi to take a scroll that would aide in saving many lives. Elsewhere over a decade later, a single man leaves Amegakure making a vengeful pledge. In present time, Naruto woke from the failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke. Tsunade entered Naruto's room and told him he will be going on a three year training trip, which Shikamaru overheard. At the same time, Hinata began recalling the last three days she experienced. **2**

The first of the three days Hinata found out from Kurenai about the mission Naruto went on to rescue Sasuke that started the day before. She headed home where Hiashi decided to take over her training. After three hours of this, she returned to her room exhausted. She took a walk through and ended up in the western gate. As she looked on, Hinata saw each of the genin who took part on the Sasuke Retrieval Mission being brought back one by one. After Lee passed by, Gaara joined Hinata in waiting for Naruto. She was scared for a moment but Gaara managed to earn her trust. After Naruto arrived, Hinata followed as Gaara and Kakashi took him to the hospital. Unable to visit yet, Hinata fell asleep from the mental exhaustion. **4**

After she woke, she went to visit Kiba after being told she couldn't visit Neji and Naruto didn't need visitors. Gaara secretly obtained his room number and followed her for a short while before heading for the blond shinobi's room, which he told her the location of. After meeting again, Gaara decided against revealing the Kyubi to Hinata despite having permission to. Hinata examined Naruto with her Byakugan and saw his condition to be worse than it appeared. As she cried, Tsunade appeared and comforted Hinata. To get Hinata to eat something, Tsunade sent her out on an errand to get Naruto's clothes repaired. On this errand, she meets an unusual tailor. **5**

Hinata returned the jumpsuit to Tsunade but was denied the chance to see Naruto until later. As she returned to her home, Hinata stopped by the tailor's place. He worked to cheer her up as they spoke. When she asked him his name, the tailor flashily introduced himself as Arashi Ayama. After this, Hinata went to the Hyuga garden and found herself falling into an unexpected nap. The resulting dream was of Naruto flat-lining. After a meal with her family, Hinata made her way to the hospital once again. She was allowed by Tsunade to visit Neji this time around and then went to Naruto's room afterwards. After being left alone, Hinata fell asleep onto Naruto. After she curled up onto the bed unconsciously, Tsunade immortalized the event. **6**

The next morning, Hinata woke and backed away from the sleeping Naruto in surprise. She then remembered the damage he had and examined him to discover that his condition had greatly improved. She then broke into tears and professed her love to the unconscious blond. Just moments after she finished, Naruto started to wake. In fear of complete embarrassment, she ran out the room and fainted. After waking up, Hinata found herself in a room which Shizune put her in. After explaining this, Shizune was called out by Tsunade to show off the recently taken photo. Deciding upon a bet at Hinata's expense, they showed the Hyuga the picture. Shizune won the bet due to her fainting. With Naruto, he completed a set of fifty pushups before being visited by Sakura. He took this opportunity to tell her about his three year training trip. As she thought about how Naruto would be training under a Sanin, Sakura asked Tsunade for training. **7**

**Chapters 8-22: Preparation for Departure**

After a continuation of his workout session, Naruto was visited by Kakashi. Kakashi learned of the training trip and then left the bored Naruto alone. Back with Hinata, she woke up and then sprinted to the Hokage's office after remembering the reason for her fainting before. Upon arrival, she finds that Shino and Kurenai have seen the photo and that Kurenai has her own copy. Feeling defeated, Hinata leaves the room at which time Tsunade decides to take a photo to Sakura and Ichiraku. **8**

Hinata once again stops at Ichiraku Ramen for a bite to eat. After she ate, she was asked to take a bowl of ramen to Naruto who happened to be sleeping again. After she left the room, Naruto woke and loudly exclaimed his joy to have ramen. Shino and Kurenai visited shortly, allowing Naruto to tell them of his trip. That night, Hinata leaves her room to go out on a mid-night training excursion and runs into her sister who was already aware of the late night training. She finds a secluded area she's been using for a while and practices the jutsu upon the water's surface. A man hidden in the trees watched her and commented on some form of potential. **9**

The next morning, Hinata heads off to train with Shino and Kurenai. After some light exercises, Hinata shows them her Protective Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms, impressing both considerably. After a few moments, Kurenai noticed a nearby presence and checked on it secretly. The man she found had any identifying features completely covered. She learned that he has some form of intent towards Hinata and attacked him. He quickly pinned her down. **10**

The man explained just what he had in mind and told Kurenai to keep it secret. Even so, she wasted no time in telling Shino and Hinata. After dismissing them, Kurenai encounters the man again. He tells her that he used a highly undetectable genjutsu to change what she truly told Hinata and Shino and that any further attempts to tell anyone would be unlikely to work. She meets up with Team 8 at Kiba's room, discovering that the conversation truly was changed. During this visit, Kiba became frustrated over a self-destructive moment of Hinata's but only made it worse. Kurenai comforted Hinata and walked her home.** 11**

As Kurenai lead Hinata to the Hyuga compound, they ran into the tailor Arashi. He introduced himself then asked Kurenai's name in a highly flattering way. The next day was spent training as Hinata promised herself to visit Naruto again the day after. Around noon this day, Naruto decided to try meditating just as Tsunade recommended he should. Hinata showed up and saw Naruto meditating deeply. She couldn't stay long as another team meeting would soon start. In his mind, Naruto met with the Kyubi. They argued fiercely before Naruto left. The Kyubi turned around at a darker voice behind him. All that was visible were a pair of very dark blue eyes. The two argued lightly as Naruto awoke. Tsunade showed up before Naruto and set him free. He woke the next day and went out to eat. **13**

After his meal, Naruto ran into Konohamaru's group and got dragged into a game of tag. The blond caught Moegi, Udon, and Konohamaru in that order and later comments on their performance. At his turn, Naruto left behind a clone to trick them. Thanks to this, he managed to learn that the memories of his clones are transferred to him. After the game of tag, he takes them to eat ramen and tells them about his three year training period. After paying for the meal, Naruto went off to train. For his training, Naruto created 100 clones and learned that information from a dispersed clone is also transferred to all other clones. The next day, he returned to train again. **15**

Later in that day, Hinata goes to visit Kiba as planned. During this visit, Hinata is asked to take Akamaru out for a walk, during which she runs into Arashi again. As she demonstrates her insecurities, Arashi goes into as speech on how what makes her different makes her strong. With Naruto, he runs into Kakashi who tells him more about how clones transfer information to the user. Naruto goes off to train in chakra control but faints from the mental backlash. He runs into Kakashi the next day, who explains why he fainted. While running off again, Naruto crashes into Arashi around a corner. The tailor recognizes him and tells Naruto of how Hinata brought it to him to be repaired. Arashi then heads off to the Hokage's tower to set up a meeting. After completely another round of training, Naruto ran into Sakura who tells him to go to the hospital at noon next day. **17**

Barely arriving on time, Naruto arrives at the hospital on time and meets with Kiba and Chouji and tells them about his training period. As they head to Neji's room, they find the area in a hectic state due to Lee and Guy. Naruto uses this chance to tell Neji, Lee, and Tenten about the trip. After learning that the only people Naruto hasn't told were Hinata and Iruka, Neji has a flashback on how he learned of Hinata's feeling for Naruto. Naruto leaves to spar with Lee. **19**

At the Hokage's tower, Arashi arrives to find his appointment canceled. He forces his way up and abruptly wakes the sleeping Hokage. Just as they began negotiations, Kurenai barges in thanks to Arashi inviting her through a shadow clone. Arashi asks Tsunade to allow him to _hire_ Hinata to be his apprentice under the pretense of a guarding mission. They try to refuse, but he makes an offer with a high monetary benefit for Konoha and also promising to add his own Kekkei Genkai, the Keikigan, to the village. After convincing them by saying that Hinata could send reports at any time, he leans up to Tsunade and says she could send a man flying by turning around using just her breast. The Hokage punches him, but he is unaffected. **20**

After explaining the jutsu that made Tsunade's punch do no damage, Arashi prepared to go to the Hyuga compound as Hiashi and the clan elders were thinking about what to do with Hinata. He barged in on them, using the same jutsu to render Juken near useless. He explained the training mission Hinata will be on, revealing Hanzou as his previous shishou. He leaves them with one final warning. Back with Naruto and Lee, Naruto fouled up and lost. At Ichiraku, Jiraiya tells Naruto they leave noon the next day. **21**

Hinata woke on the morning of the last day and immediately began her search for Naruto. On the way, she ran into Arashi, who gave her the outfit that he promised her all those days ago. Naruto woke late and raced to find Iruka. After talking, he runs off and starts using his clones to search for Hinata. When one of these clones finds her by crashing into her. The real Naruto showed up shortly. After an embarrassing series of fainting and unintentional injuries, both head towards the west gate. Both were surprised when they saw all their fellow genin and their jonin there. After some last words, Naruto leaves with Jiraiya and his new present. Arashi shows up at this time to the surprise of everyone. After hearing his name, Neji shows great trust towards Arashi and reveals to everyone how he saved Hinata's life from a stray kunai during the chunin exam invasion. Hanabi also shows up in time to say goodbye to her sister. Each individual there said something to Hinata and/or Arashi. Hinata leaves the village with him, wondering what the next three years of her _mission_ will be like. **22**

**Chapters 23-36: Initial Training**

In the first part of her training, Hinata had to build up chakra reserves. Arashi had Hinata use her chakra to keep from falling off a oversized seesaw. In the next morning, Hinata asked why Arashi chose her. He responded by saying he had her in mind from the start then said that anytime she felt unsure, she should train. He ups the ante the next day, preparing to catch her when her chakra faded. It took twelve days before moving on. The next training was for her to stand on a large stone bowl of water as Arashi carried her around. He demonstrates his taijutsu abilities later that day and explains Sei and Dou type fighters. Arashi also tells her about a group of close combat specialist who also trained him. **24**

To further increase the difficulty of the water standing exercise, Hinata had to glue leaves to her fingers with chakra. They then trained her in improving her Protective Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms jutsu. Because of the difficulty, Hinata discovered the jutsu could be used through her fingertips rather than her palms; which reminded her of gluing leaves to her fingers. After arriving in a village, they stay at a inn where Hinata runs into a Kumo shinobi. Arashi showed up and is instantly recognized by the Kumo shinobi. Hinata then learns that Arashi played a big role in Kumo and his highly respected there. As Arashi tells her about Kumo, Hinata also learns what a Jinchuriki is but remains unaware of the connection to Naruto. **26**

A few months of training passed as Hinata started to learn more and more about her shishou, including the fact that he loves pulling embarrassing pranks and can think up really good birthday presents. Now in a new outfit Arashi created, the man tells Hinata that she has to reduce a pebble to fragments with her chakra alone. After she masters this, they head into a village that Arashi notices Jiraiya in a brothel while walking around alone. After Naruto appears, Arashi gives them a tip on strength training that could be had at Kumo. **28**

Arashi started the next day with another prank against Hinata. After leaving the village, Arashi directs them to a Kiri jonin and chunin returning from a mission. Through Arashi's demand, Hinata has a spar with the chunin and nearly wins if it weren't for the jonin's interruption. Later, Hinata manages the second level of the pebble training thanks to inspiration from the fight. **29**

As Hinata continued the pebble training through the months, Arashi also had her learn how to read the rhythm of others by dancing with him. He later told her that the pebble training was for Hinata to learn Earth Nature chakra. More months passed and Arashi reminisced on a jutsu Hinata developed scared him enough to make him tell Hinata it was useless so she wouldn't use it again. As they walked down that dirt path, they run into a pair wearing black cloaks with red cloud designs. **30**

The two passed by Arashi and Hinata nonchalantly. Without warning, Arashi blocked an attack from a three-bladed scythe. After the attacker obtains some of Arashi's blood, they are addressed by each other as Hidan and Kakuzu. After seeing Hidan injure himself, Arashi realized the jutsu's ability and disrupts the symbol below Hidan's feet. After showing Hinata Hidan's rhythm, Arashi leaves her to distract him as he fights Kakuzu, demonstrating use of the five chakra elements. Hearing an unsettling sound, Arashi uses clones to combine the five elements into one devastating attack. **31**

Hinata ran from Hidan, avoiding his attacks effectively. She did her best to hold out and avoid getting hit, but a twist of fate gave Hidan what he needed. After inflicting three grave wounds remotely, he prepared to do the unthinkable to her. Fortunately, Arashi showed up and obliterated the _immortal_. He then created a Shadow Clone to take care of Hinata as he carted her and the clone to a nearby village. After a chilly reception, Arashi had to trust a single teenage boy with Hinata's life. **32**

They spend their time in the village waiting for Hinata to heal. During this time, Arashi occupied himself by training the doctor, Hoshi. Just after Hinata healed, shinobi bandits attacked and overwhelmed Hoshi and the traumatized Hyuga. Arashi saved them and used the chance to put the group down and free the captives. With the good deed finished, the pair left. **34**

Arashi explained to Hinata the truth behind the jutsu that scared him. He then started teaching two new jutsu that took her a month to learn. Once that was done, they stopped at a small village that had a hot spring. Unaware that it was coed, Hinata was easily tricked into entering though got away with wearing a bathing suit Arashi made. Soon after Arashi left her alone, Hinata decided to leave. On her way, she ran into three perverted men. Still traumatized from her encounter against Hidan, Hinata had to be saved by Arashi. He then led her to a more dangerous place. As Arashi dealt with nine men, she had to deal with a tenth. Due to her terror, she ran away. In a moment of grief she let her fear take control of her body. As a result, Hinata gained the ability to know where an enemy will strike by their killer intent. Once she finished with one more man, she saw Arashi staring seriously at the last man standing. **35**

Arashi and the other man clashed fiercely. A volt of lightning sparked off of their attacks each time they connected. Minutes later, the events of the whole day were revealed to be a set up, including the men at the hot springs. After some conversation with the, Hinata and Arashi headed for Kumo, where they ran into a woman named Yugito showing strong affections for Arashi. While meeting with the Raikage, he and Arashi get into a random test of strength. They then revealed that Hinata will be left alone in Kumo for taijutsu training. Yugito walked in and was asked to take Hinata to a spa; which was both eventful and relaxing. As she remained unaware of the days to come, Arashi readied himself for his version of revenge. **36**

**Chapters 37-47: Hidden Forces**

As he walked to Ame, Arashi began recalling his past. It started with him making a pillow with his mother as an innocent child. After that, he meet Hanzou outside for the first time. Hanzou killed tried to take Arashi and killed his father in the process. The Ame leader forced Arashi to follow the trail leading to Amegakure. Hanzou found him at the gates and led the angry child to his tower. The vengeful Arashi exercised while thinking of avenging his father. He spends many years there while being forced to train by his father's murderer while also becoming close with a girl named Kyouko who was made Arashi's personal servant. She both comforted and cared for Arashi through the years. After they reached the highest point of intimacy, Hanzou decided to test out Arashi's abilities. Because he was unimpressed, he punished Arashi by removing Kyouko's arm. In the next battle, Arashi managed to injure Hanzou. In response, Hanzou ordered Arashi to leave the village, his curiosity on how love could make someone stronger satisfied. As he knew what would happen if he didn't, Arashi left with his anger towards Hanzou stronger than ever. When he finally returned to his clan, Arashi found that Hanzou beat him there. After burring the dead members of his clan, Arashi swore complete revenge upon Hanzou. Done reminiscing, Arashi laughs at how his goal had changed over the years from Hanzou's obliteration to his humiliation. **39**

Prancing into Ame with a smile on his face, Arashi shortly encountered Konan and ran from her. Once his destination was reached, Arashi fought her off with relative ease. Pain appeared at this time. After learning that Pain killed both Kyouko and his child, Arashi freezes … enticing Pain to attack. After this, the battle between Arashi and Pein began. Arashi fought fiercely, but was caught off guard by Pain's strange abilities. In the end, he was forced to run. After six days, he finds himself inside a village. He sulks his way to a brothel, where Jiraiya happens to be. After Arashi revealed his past to the Sannin, Naruto appears. The blond immediately called Arashi a pervert. On the next day, Arashi performed his first prank on Naruto. After a few weeks, Arashi recovered completely. **41**

Before training Naruto Arashi managed to switch his nickname from Ero-Arashi to Oni-Arashi. Once that was over with, he began teaching Naruto the basics of four styles. As Naruto learned the combo and how to put the basics of these four styles together thanks to the use of numerous clones, Arashi decided to tease Naruto about Hinata. During a sparing exercise, Arashi managed to stop a potential Kyubi takeover before it went too far. As Naruto put together what he learned, Arashi was impressed by his talent. **43**

Arashi and Naruto wake up and prank Jiraiya. This led to Arashi being able to coax Jiraiya into a fight. They started out with a few normal taijutsu and ninjutsu before Arashi stepped it up. This was able to convince Jiraiya to go into a temporary sage mode. They fought until they hit each other at the same time. After that, Naruto tried to talk to each about the abilities they used. Jiraiya refused to teach him Sage Mode, leaving Arashi to teach Naruto his technique. **44**

Arashi wakes from his nap and sets up Naruto's training as promised. Naruto used clones to make the training easier as Arashi thought on how he could make it harder. After a few days, an elderly man began sensing their presence. The next day, Jiraiya noticed that man approaching them and goes to check him out. Even with the man's frail appearance, Jiraiya felt unusually suspicious about the man. This was made a mute point after the man reveals his name, Udekazari, and walks through the sage and to Arashi. Udekazari asks Arashi some questions, being most surprised by the names Ayama and Uzumaki. His curiosities satisfied, Udekazari left them. The days passed by and Naruto learned the Seikuken. With that, Arashi left.** 47**

**Chapters 48-57: Return to Konoha**

Arashi entered Kumo and headed for where Hinata should right away. As he expected, Yugito appeared and flirted with him. Arashi gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek, causing her to faint from surprise. Once Hinata showed up, she yelled at Arashi in frustration. Arashi responded jestingly and admired Hinata's change in personality. After they spared, Arashi took Hinata and escaped from Kumo. **48**

After some travel, Hinata tries to guess that they are heading for Konoha. Arashi cancels that by telling her that he took her across the water as she slept and are near Kusagakure. In the middle of a forest, they run into a number of powerful missing-nin; Sasori, Deidara, Orochimaru, and Kabuto. Hinata and two Arashi clones stay behind to deal with two Akatsuki members as Arashi chases after Orochimaru. A clone summoned a salamander named Dokuyoke and Hinata summoned an owl named Tsukura. Arashi worked with Tsukura against Deidara as Hinata held off Sasori with Dokuyoke. As he fought Deidara, Arashi showed his skill in analyzing jutsu, infuriating Deidara. As the clone fought Deidara, Hinata and Dokuyoke easily held Sasori off. As Sasori ran from the salamander's charge, the other clone told Hinata to use Eight Trigrams: Infinite Palm. Deidara was destroyed along with a large section of forest. **50**

Arashi tried to chase after Orochimaru, but the snake proved very slippery. After catching up he managed to get Orochimaru to watch Hinata's jutsu, which impressed the Sannin. Orochimaru attacked, followed by Kabuto, giving the snake user another chance to escape. Arashi easily disabled Kabuto with the Shockwave of Forgetfulness. He quickly caught up with Orochimaru and prevented an attack upon Tsukura, who was carrying an unconscious Hinata. After Arashi knocked Orochimaru away, he escaped again. With things peaceful, Arashi spoke with the amnesiac. Not sure of Kabuto's mental status, Arashi left a clone behind to watch him. Tsukura dropped Hinata into Arashi's arms, who chose to transform into Naruto as a prank. Hinata didn't take it well when she woke. The moment they reach the middle of Orochimaru's lair, Arashi tears the ground apart, revealing Orochimaru and Sasuke. As they conversed, Sasuke decided that Arashi was worth testing his strength on. Arashi's skill easily overwhelms Sasuke so he sends the Uchiha up to face off against Hinata. **52**

Hinata watched Arashi deal with Sasuke up until the Uchiha was sent up for her to fight. Through the fight, nearly all the training she went under came into place. The fight goes back and forth. During a time where he had an advantage, Sasuke made a deal with Arashi to learn from him with the details being that the winner can demand anything of the loser. As Hinata started to unlock the second stage of the Seikuken she recently learned, Orochimaru interfered with one of his poisonous snakes. Hinata counters the poison with one she's immune to and the pair leave for Konoha. **53**

With Kabuto added to their group, the trio made their way to Konoha's gates. Kabuto stated that he was regaining his memories, comparing his life before and current. He decided he liked his new life. Arriving, Arashi decided to use Kabuto for his amusement and dragged Hinata along. As this happened, Hiashi attempted to plead with the Hokage to have hunter-nin sent after his daughter. Arashi barged right in, causing yet another disturbance. Frustrated heavily, Hiashi left them. In just a short time, Hinata's old team entered and received a first hand look at her new strength. They caught up and Tsunade checked Hinata's body for any irregularities. What she found was that Hinata's muscle chemistry was completely changed. Later that night, she returned home and encountered Hanabi for the first time in a while. She met with Neji the next day and started her next training. As she did so, Arashi decided to send some clones to train Hinata's peers. **56**

After the three years, Naruto returned to Konoha. He had no hesitation in announcing his arrival in the village. This shocked Hinata and put Arashi plotting mode. As Naruto made his way to the Hokage's Tower, Hinata stationed herself there to get a look at him. She berated herself for stalking him as the blond made his way to the Hokage's office. After the meeting was over for him, Naruto climbed the mountains and used the Sage Mode he learned at some time to locate Hinata. He found her and spied for a bit, only to berate his actions much like the way she did. In the next day, Naruto headed for the Hokage's tower for his first mission. Much to his surprise, he found Arashi there. He was quickly told how he was still a genin and that he will be attending the next Chunin Exams in Kumo. His first teammate was introduced to be Hinata, much to both of their surprise. As Arashi restrained Naruto, the third member walked through the door.**57**

**Chapters 58-66: Chunin Exams**

As soon as that door opened, Naruto had himself a fit, not wanting to have Kabuto as a teammate. During his rant, he reveled something that Hinata reacted angrily to. This gave Arashi a chance to forcefully make them kiss, which was enough for both the faint from. They later woke up and remembered the very embarrassing event. Hinata ran away and Arashi gave chase. Even with the major pep-talk he gave her, Hinata could barely speak to Naruto; a problem he shared. After learning when to be ready, they left. **58**

As the group made they way to Kumo, Hinata concerned herself with her saying that Arashi was a better father to Hiashi's face. When they arrived, Arashi was attacked by Killer-Bee. Once the attack was over, they got into a rhyming contest, with Arashi winning. Killer-Bee turned his attention towards Hinata, which led to her fainting and Naruto getting knocked out. They took this chance to pull the worst prank yet. After this one, Hinata was pissed off enough so that She hardly paid attention to Naruto. When they arrived at their abode, Naruto was able to get her to calm down. Just before they would kiss, Arashi unintentionally interrupted them. He let Hinata hit him for that before running off. **59**

They had no trouble getting through the first part of the Kumo exam, a psychological genjutsu. On their way to the second part, Kabuto went into a description of what he knew about the exams. Soon after, they reached the ravine that the test would take place. Just before beginning, Yugito made sure to give the jonin level team a limitation. As they prepared to enter the _Rainbow Ravine_, genin from other teams were starting to make their way through. The ones who passed were Nagigenki from Suna, Ikari from Kiri, Kakougan from Iwa, Gatami of Kumo, and of course the three from Konoha. Arashi decided to show up and explain the test's third part. **60**

After Arashi finished explaining the exams, which would be genin choosing a jonin to match their skills up against; he left the genin to talk among themselves. Ikari left as Hinata talked to Gatami about Yugito and Naruto talked to Nagigenki about Gaara. As this happened, Arashi went to talk to the other jonin. The first one to greet him was of course Yugito. Next was Kyokugen who is jonin for Kakougan. He then met with Choujurou who was one of the seven swordsmen and Ikari's jonin. He then went to meet with the Suna jonin, who surprised him greatly after revealing her name to be Kyouko. Arashi hid away up until the beginning of the Chunin exams third part. The first genin up was Ikari, who chose Arashi. Due to the Kiri genin's foolish behavior, Arashi ended the fight quickly. **61**

After Ikari was taken away, Arashi went up to where the jonin were. He wasted no time telling them about his exhaustion and taking a nap. This didn't last long as he was up for the next fight too. He fought Nagigenki for a bit longer and gave out advice. After he called the match on his own, Nagigenki's sensei went to talk to him. She didn't get the chance since he was passed out on the stairs. The next fight was Hinata against Yugito. This fight proved completely different as Hinata was able to fight Yugito evenly. Hinata was able to push her even farther when she began imitating her teammates and then her cousin. It was far enough for Yugito to decide to use the power of the Nibi inside her. **62**

To deal with Yugito's demonic power, Hinata put the Streaming Seikuken to use and the Raikage had a set of seals that protect the spectators activated. The fight was called off due to the fact that it was a complete stalemate. The next fight was Gatami against Kyokugen. She demonstrated high intelligence by hiding underground the entire fight. Kakougan, the genin, was next against Choujurou. Kakougan started by changing the terrain. The genin's plan worked by using his kekkei genkai to easily control the rocks and attack in single moment. Choujurou eventually used a liquefying jutsu to get behind Kakougan and end the fight. Naruto was next and asked for Arashi. **63**

Arashi appeared before Naruto and pointed out how he created a clone. The match began, but they did nothing as a second clone sat on the ground. Arashi quickly realized what Naruto was doing and yelled out for the protective seals to activate. To compliment the battle to come, a lightning storm brewed. The fight between them continued in a way that would be impossible to explain with just a few words. Nearing the last legs of the battle, Arashi combined the Streaming Seikuken with Lightning armor while Naruto pulled on the nature chakra inside of the clone he created before the match. As the fight continued, Naruto drew upon some of the Kyubi's chakra and left the beast alone to speak with the darker figure deeper within the seal. With one final attack, Arashi was knocked unconscious. Even so, Arashi continued fighting. Hinata stops him in the knick of time, receiving a bone fracture as a result. As the three went to the hospital, Kabuto began his fight against Kyouko of Suna. She demonstrates a unique use of kunai, but Kabuto was able to easily cut her tendons and stun her nervous system. In the hospital room, Hinata visited Arashi and Naruto. As she realizes how much influence both have had on her life, Naruto wakes momentarily. When he goes back down, she decides to get him alone as soon as possible. **65**

As Hinata visited Arashi and Naruto again, she found that Naruto was missing. She quickly put her Byakugan to use to find him. As the talked, Naruto told her about his Nature Chakra. They continued to talk for a while before moving in for their first voluntary kiss. During this kiss, Naruto touches a sensitive spot on her ear, causing Hinata to lose control and faint. Arashi woke her up later using that same spot on her ear. The man runs away after Hinata realized that Arashi told Naruto about her sensitive spot on purpose. Arashi arrives at the Chunin Selection meeting. He takes notice of the arriving Mizukage and her guard Ao. They decided that the failing genin were Ikari and Nagigenki. **66**

**Chapters 67-72: Connection**

As Naruto, Hinata, and Kabuto made their way to Konoha, Akatsuki started to finally take action. They immediately prepared to take action to capture the Sanbi, the Nanabi, and then the Rokubi. Back in Konoha, Tsunade had a conversation with one of Arashi's clones, who said he would be at Kirigakure. As she dealt with the headache she developed after he disapeared, a loud sound from a mysterious scroll worsened that condition. The next day, Akatsuki managed to capture the Sanbi and began to draw out it's power. As this happened, Naruto and Hinata picked up their camp to continue their way home. Their friendly conversation quickly turned into a race. To keep up with Naruto's speed, Hinata was forced to use chakra to enhance her movement and keep even with Naruto. It took a few hours, but this completely exhausted her chakra reserves. They set up camp for the night. **67**

Returning early, Naruto and Hinata take the day off. They first went to Ichiraku, where they were teased by Teuchi and Ayame. After an encountering Ino, Naruto then decided for them to go somewhere private. The place that he chose was the top of the Yondaime face's head. He then began talking to Hinata about jinchuriki, and about the demon's sealed inside of them. After he mentioned Akatsuki, she was able to realize that Naruto had the Kyubi sealed inside of him. Her greatest concern was over how she could never be at Naruto's level. At Naruto's suggestion they went to see Tsunade. They briefly talked about receiving their promotions. Tsunade dismissed them and took a look at the scroll she found not long ago. **68**

Moments after leaving the Hokage's tower, Naruto caught up with Hinata. He tried talking to her, but she asked him to leave her alone so she could think things over. She made her way to Arashi's home and went into the basement. There she trained with one of the dummies for an undetermined amount of time. Neji then interrupted the training to speak with Hinata. Their conversation centered on Hinata needing to relax and not think about the Kyubi too much. After she finally agreed with him, Neji left Hinata alone. She continued training until night. In the night, she had a strange dream of an unknown symbol splitting into two parts, with one part appearing on her. The next morning, she and Naruto were summoned to the Hokage's office where they received a mysterious mission with unusual directions and an unknown reward. Despite the mystery, both accepted the mission with little hesitation. **69**

Hinata quickly collects her things and gets to the village gate. When she arrives, they enter a short argument on how Naruto had been ignored the fact that he recently told Hinata about the Kyubi. After coming to an understanding, they begin leaving the village, only to run into Kabuto. He wastes no time in trying to embarrass Hinata and annoy Naruto all at once. After exiting the village, they prepare the scroll to lead them to their destination. Over the next few days, they find their way to an area that Naruto recognizes as being near Takigakure. As he talks about the mission he had there with team seven, Hinata takes a strong notice of his emotional state. They are then interrupted by the elderly Udekazari, who reveals himself to the mission's client and the bracelets on his arms at the reward. When they put on the bracelets, Udekazari recalls the names of Uzumaki, Senju, Hyuga, and Konsetsu. Meanwhile, Akatsuki finishes draining the Sanbi's chakra and Kisame is sent after the Nanabi.** 70**

Udekazari first explains that he is the last of the Sage of Six Paths creations. He also lets them know that he was familiar with the ancient ancestors of their clans, including Hinata's mother, a Konsetsu. Before he could explain further, Udekazari is interrupted by the appearance by an unknown girl wearing mostly white. Revealing a jutsu he calls Izanagi, Udekazari creates a kunai an ability that he calls Izanagi. He then reveals her to be the Nanabi jinchuriki. Udekazari later senses a new, more malevolent presence nearby. He turns to Naruto and Hinata to tell them the bracelets allow the pair to transfer thoughts, health, and chakra to the other. Hinata scans ahead, discovering that the malevolent presence was a member of Akatsuki. As the pair test their new telepathic communication, the other jinchuriki recklessly charges after Akatsuki member. Hinata is first to make a serious move as she recognizes him as Kisame Hoshigaki. As she fights against him, Naruto seizes a chance to hit Kisame in the back with his Rasengan. **71**

Hurt by the Rasengan Naruto managed to hit him with, Kisame released the bandages surrounding Samehada. Kisame once again started fighting against the pair, taking whatever chance he could to attack the Nanabi jinchuriki. After some time of admiring Naruto and Hinata's level of skill, Kisame unleashed a massive amount of water through one of his jutsu. He then took Samehada into his hands and underwent a fusion with the weapon that made Kisame more shark-like than ever. Hinata could no longer push him back an Naruto's Rasengan was absorbed. Kisame used this chance to use Naruto's chakra to help him form a massive water dome. In this environment, Kisame easily dominated them and delivered a fatal injury to Hinata. Seeing this, Naruto was pulled into his mind by the Kyubi. The demon tried to force his chakra onto Naruto, but Udekazari appeared and formed a barrier. When they left, the Kyubi had a conversation with his Yin half, sealed deeper within Naruto. After talking with Udekazari, Naruto woke again. He used the power of the bracelets they received to take Hinata's injuries onto himself. She woke from her near death state and realized what was happening and tried to take back her injuries. In the fight to heal the other, both their bodies broke apart and combined into a new entity who chose the name of Yondou. **72**

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**Readers of The Ultimate Shinobi may have noticed some changes. For starters, I stopped using that line over the letter o; (Example: shish**ō**). Instead, I put down the 'u' it represents. Any time a word has two 'u' in a row; (Example: Hyuuga); I ignore it and just put down one 'u.' A more major change was that I changed the maiden family name of Hinata's mother from Kyoukan to Konsetsu. For what I want the name to represent, Konsetsu has a much better ring to it. Also, any character who has a name that mimics the sound of an English word will have their name spelled like the English word; (Example: Killer Bee.)**

**I look forward to any new readers I attract and hope to hear plenty from them.**

**Next Chapter: Split Seal.**


	2. Split the Seal: Chapter 1

Underlined speech is thought.

_Italicized words signify emphasis put on the words or a change in tone. You should be able to figure it out from the choice of words and the character._

_Sentences of thought that are completely italicized were spoken by another character while still being inside of the mind of the character that paragraph focuses on._

"**Bold thoughts are being transferred to the known recipient with others being unaware of the communication."**

CAPITALIZED SPEECH IS YELLING.

These are … interruptions in …speech caused … by things …like laughing,…crying, thought,.. and…others.

Words-with-dashes-between-them-consistently-signify-when-a-character-is-talking-too-fast-to-understand.

Words with tildes~ after them are spoken for longer~ periods of time.

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**11-21-10**

**Split the Seal**

The now shirtless blue skinned man known as Kisame Hoshigaki looked at the new being calling himself Yondou while tightly gripping Samehada, a massive broad sword with oversized dark-blue scales sticking out at all points. His shark-like face, complete with sharp teeth and gill marks under his circular eyes with tiny pupils, did nothing to hide the uncertainty with the new foe that looked like he was made from particles of Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga. He glanced at the Nanabi Jinchuriki, a young looking girl with mint green hair, a orange hair clip, orange eyes, very short white shorts made up by two flaps covering the front and back with fishnet shorts underneath, a white shirt covering from the top of the stomach to the neck with a fishnet shirt going a few inches further down, white sleeves covering the wrists to the middle of the upper arm, her Takigakure headband attached to the top of the right sleeve, and a large cylindrical object strapped to her back with red cloth. He then looked back at Yondou, afraid to take his eyes off the mysterious foe for more than a few seconds.

The Nanabi Jinchuriki also had her attention on Yondou, mainly to admire his appearance. The young looking man had a soft face with spiky shoulder length darkish-brown hair. He wore a cloak of a single grey color that flapped enough in the wind to show the clothes underneath, which were a simple pale brown shirt and pants. He also wore a necklace with four red tomoe. His eyes were white with a small tint of blue with a small pupil. The girl held a loosely held fist to her chest. "He's a total prince. I've never seen anyone like this."

Yondou slowly walked towards Kisame, letting his arms swing lightly with each step. Kisame smirked at this. "You have guts walking up to me like that." When Yondou was within range, Kisame brought Samehada to the side and then launched a wide swing. Yondou spun out then in the instant Samehada reached him. Kisame then tried a downward strike, which Yondou sidestepped flawlessly. He then bent down and placed his hands on one of Samehada's scales. With his right hand, Yondou started petting the sword along the scales. Within seconds, the scales started shrinking and flattening. "What's he doing?"

Yondou stood up and leaned back just as Kisame swung the sword in his direction. He ducked under the next diagonal attack. He started petting Samehada again with his left hand this time. Kisame tried to attack again, but Samehada would not move. Kisame was forced to let go as spikes shot out of the living weapon's hilt. Yondou simply continued petting Samehada as it fell flat onto the ground. "You don't need to be so violent?" It sounded as if he was speaking to the sword.

Kisame watched this in shock. "This is unimaginable." The Akatsuki member backed away as Yondou stood up.

The mysterious boy looked Kisame right in the eyes with a serious expression. "You have two choices." He held up his fingers in preparation to countdown. "First choice, you quit Akatsuki and stop hunting down Jinchuriki. … Second choice." He narrowed his eyes. "You find out why you want to pick the first choice."

Kisame clenched his teeth and gulped. After some thinking, he calmed down and smirked. "Option two."

"As you wish. … Gungnir."

Kisame was blasted back before he knew anything happened. After rolling across the ground, he pushed himself to his knees. "That's the Hyuga's attack. I can't even tell where he hit me."

Yondou slowly closed the distance on the Akatsuki member. "I understand why you chose the second option. Even though Akatsuki is just a group of missing-nin, you are very loyal. You are willing to fight for your comrades. I admire that." He stopped walking and looked down at Kisame. "Even so, your mission is to capture Jinchuriki and drain the beasts sealed within, resulting in their deaths. I do not accept this."

Kisame backed away again and performed a short set of hand-seals. "WATER STYLE: SUPER SHARK BOMB!" Water coalesced into a massive shark head with numerous rows of teeth. The size of the approaching maw was easily greater than Yondou's height. Kisame smirked. "No matter what jutsu he uses, my attack will absorb the chakra and become stronger." Yondou reached into the ground and pulled out a massive slab of earth. "That won't work." Kisame was proved right as the large shark easily broke through the stone slab. When the water disappeared, Kisame noticed a stunning lack of any bodies. "Where'd he go?"

"Rasengan." Kisame was hit in the back by the explosive sphere of chakra.

Kisame crashed into the ground, right next to Samehada. He reached out and grabbed the living weapon's hilt. After a few seconds, he smiled. "Good. I was afraid that Samehada was rejecting me."

"Samehada is still loyal to you. It simply wishes that you show more kindness that simply letting it eat your chakra." Kisame's eyes widened slightly. "I cannot read your mind. I am reading your expressions, which are being shown actively in your distressed state."

Kisame began to sweat a little. "I might actually _need_ to go all out." Like before, Samehada began fusing into Kisame's arm. The fusion completed with Kisame turning into a true human shark. He had massive blade-like fins sticking out the back of his arms and a large tail that tapered off into a point. He grew in size and developed webbed hands and feet. His back arched with a dorsal fin forming from the top of his head to the bottom of his spine. "Time to use that chakra I got from that Kyubi kid. WATER STYLE: EXPLODING WATER SHOCKWAVE!"

Like before, massive amounts of water flowed out of Kisame's mouth. Yondou faced the flood motionlessly. "Not this time." He held out his palm and the red tomoe gems around his neck started glowing. "Almighty Push."

Kisame and all his water were blasted away by a force that he had never experienced before. The trees behind him were mere twigs at the speed Kisame was moving. It took a small mountain to stop him. Kisame pushed himself from the stone wall. "What kind of jutsu was that? It had chakra, but it hit me for a single instant and then was gone. I hardly absorbed anything from it." He collected what water that was around him into a dome twice his size. "I have no hope of defeating that guy. I'm better off getting back and telling our leader about this." With Kisame as the center, the dome of water moved forward as he swam.

Yondou looked at the destruction he caused with a blank expression. "Byakugan." The pupil in his eye became more pronounced and veins popped out at the sides of his eyes. "He's leaving." With the threat gone, Yondou turned his attention towards where he put the green haired Jinchuriki just before hitting Kisame with the Rasengan. "Are you alright?"

She looked back at him with a dazed expression "Yeah~."

"Then I have one thing left to do." He lowered his self to the ground and took a meditative sitting position. When Yondou opened his eyes, he was on something that looked like the surface of the moon. The earth and the sun could both be seen. Yondou could not walk but a few steps before an elderly looking man appeared before him. He wore brown and tattered cloak and clothes. His hair was white and he had an excessively long mustache. His eyes showed wisdom beyond even his apparent years. "Hello Udekazari."

The elderly looking man bowed deeply. "It is an honor to meet you great one."

Yondou smiled. "I appreciate the compliment but we have urgent matters to discuses with our hosts." Udekazari stood then nodded. With the wave of a hand, Yondou made two doors appear. One door was the combination of the colors bright red and yellow. The other door was a combination of the colors white and indigo. Both doors opened, revealing Naruto behind the first and Hinata behind the second; both in a comatose state. Both looked just as they did before. Naruto had his spiky blond hair, whisker marks along his cheeks, and the same tiger themed outfit Arashi made. The black strips all moved along the outlines of where one would imagine muscles being. Hinata's long hair, reaching to the middle of her back, looked black but any reflecting light showed it to be midnight-blue. Like Naruto's clothes, Hinata's cloths accented her body, with the color used being lavender and the rest being a pale gray. Two wide semi-circles were designed over her hips. A V-shape formed at her shoulders and connected just above the bulges of her chest. The line went up to form cuffs around her wrists.

Both slowly woke up as the doors disappeared, leaving them behind. When they opened their eyes fully, the pair fell back in surprise. "Calm yourselves Naruto, Hinata."

Naruto stood up. "WHO ARE YOU! WHERE ARE WE! WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE!"

Yondou turned his attention towards Hinata. "Assistance if you'll please Hinata."

Despite her confusion, Hinata stood up and walked over to Naruto. Her eyes alone were enough to let him know that he needed to calm down. She then turned her attention toward the unknown man. "Can you tell us what happened? The last thing I remember is…." Hinata held a hand to throat, remembering how Kisame bit into her windpipe.

Udekazari stepped into the ring. "Let me explain." They all turned their attention on the elderly man. "When Naruto-dono saw your injuries, he was pulled in by the Kyubi. Before it could force it's chakra upon him, I protected Naruto-dono. When I re-explained how he could heal Hinata-dono, Naruto-dono returned to consciousness and proceeded to do so. When Hinata-dono realized that Naruto-dono was taking on her injuries, she began doing the same. The efforts to heal the other caused the sacred bloods within yourselves to react and come together."

Every inch of Naruto's body began showing his frustration. "What the heck do you mean by sacred blood!"

Yondou looked at Naruto with a calm expression. "I believe it would be best for you to leave all the questioning to Hinata … at least until you calm yourself."

Strangely enough, looking into Yondou's eyes had a calming effect similar to the one Hinata had on him. As Naruto calmed down, Hinata looked at Yondou. "Who are you?"

He turned his attention towards her. "My name is Yondou for now. I am a representation of the sacred bloods within both of you, born when they were brought together."

Hinata nodded at the answer. "When you say sacred blood, do you mean Kekkei Genkai like my Byakugan?"

"Not quite Hinata, but you are close. There are many Kekkei Genkai while there are only six of the bloods I speak of. Together, both of you represent four. As Yondou, I am a collective representation of those four."

"Yondou can mean four paths. That makes a lot of sense now." Hinata thought for a second on what to ask next. "What happened to Kisame Hoshigaki?"

"As you two worked to heal the other, the bracelets Udekazari gave you began synchronizing your bodies. When you reached the breaking point, your bodies were separated into particles of energy and matter that collected into one being. That being was me."

The eyes of Naruto and Hinata widened. Because of Hinata's state of shock at the implications, Naruto spoke out. "Are you saying we fused?" Naruto began imagining an unusual mash up of both their bodies.

"Essentially, yes. The form that was taken was my own though. Most of my traits come from your collective strengths being concentrated into my _body_. I have all your jutsu. Rasengan, Gentle Fist, Infinite Palm, Rasenshuriken, and many others."

Hinata blushed a bit at a question that just came to mind. "Do you have our memories?"

"Only those pertaining to your jutsu and anything someone would ask me during fusion. Otherwise, all your secret thoughts are just that." Yondou held out his hand to stop Hinata from asking her next question. "We have stalled for enough time. I have to tell you something important regarding the Kyubi. Something unforeseen.

Naruto and Hinata's eyes widened a bit. "What is it?"

Yondou snapped his fingers. A massive cage formed behind them in seconds, which he then pointed at. Naruto instantly recognized it as the prison that held the Kyubi inside his body. This time, something seemed off, if the fox being twice the size Naruto remembered were to be ignored. "Naruto, you may remember that the cage that contained the Kyubi within you had only one paper seal upon it."

Hinata looked back at Yondou. "But this one has eight."

Yondou nodded. "That is correct. The seal that keeps the Kyubi contained is known as an Eight Trigrams Seal, not to be confused for the taijutsu your clan uses Hinata. It is a combination of two Four Symbols Seals."

"ARE YOU DONE!" They all turned their attention towards the bellowing beast. Its eyes and body where a dark red, almost to the point of being black. The chakra around the Kyubi glowed a much brighter red color. Most of what could be seen was just an outline of the nine-tailed fox. "WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME!"

Yondou ignored the Kyubi and turned his attention to Naruto. "You may notice that this Kyubi is different from the one you're used to. That is because this Kyubi is whole. What you've seen up till now was only the Yang half."

Hinata turned her attention to Yondou, unconcerned with the massive caged beast. "What about the Yin half?"

"Since I am able to draw on the Kyubi's knowledge, I can answer that."

The Kyubi narrowed his eyes at them. "YOU DARE PRY INTO MY MIND!"

Yondou ignored the beast. "At the time that the Kyubi was being sealed within Naruto, the one that you know as the Forth Hokage sealed the Kyubi in stages. The first part of his plan was to seal away the Kyubi's Yin half and transfer the Yang half into Naruto, using the power of the Shinigami to aid him. The thing is, gods tend to be whimsical beings and will sometimes act on what they think is best or more entertaining."

Hinata narrowed her eyes. "Sounds like a certain shishou I have."

"Instead of taking the Yin half with him, the Shinigami placed that power deeper within the seal. Noticing this, the Fourth used seven parts of the seal's power to make sure the Yin and Yang halves could not meet. Because of the recent fusion, the two halves of the Kyubi became one. This could be dangerous so we may have to split the Kyubi again under our terms."

The Kyubi slammed his face into the cage containing him. "YOU'D THINK I'D SIT BACK AND LET YOU DO THAT! I HAVEN'T BEEN WHOLE FOR YEARS!" He began attacking the cage with his tails. Long tendrils of electricity appeared and connected the eight seals.

Yondou narrowed his eyes at this. "That there is a sign that the seal is straining to keep the Kyubi at bay."

Hinata's expression became suddenly worried. "Shouldn't the eight seals be able to contain the Kyubi?"

"That would be the general consensus. Unfortunately, seals lose their power exponentially with each seal that the final product is layered with." Yondou took notice of Naruto's confused expression. "Let's compare it to stacking books. Every book that is used his half the height of the book that came before it. The second will be half the size of the first, the third will be one-fourth the original's size and the fourth book will be one-eight the height of the original. If this were to continue indefinitely, the total height will never reach that of two of the original books being stacked on top of each other." He paused to make sure Naruto understood. "There are many more complicated details that affect seals, but I won't waste our time like that. The fact is that we need to split the seal into its parts and have those parts act individually towards the same goal."

Naruto crossed his arms in thought. "Why didn't the Fourth use the seal in separate parts from the start?"

Yondou wasted no time answering the question. "Because to do this, one must design the seal from both the outside and the inside. It is impossible for a human to do such a thing. Udekazari and I are not human however." He pointed at the Kyubi, who was still attacking the seal. A tail suddenly broke through a gap. "We must act quickly. Within this mindscape, I have no more power than Udekazari. That would leave you two to face the Kyubi's full might; … a situation I would prefer to avoid."

Yondou turned towards the Kyubi and held out his hands. The beast froze in place as the seals started pulsating. Udekazari made his first move in a while, which was towards Naruto. "Please lift your shirt Naruto-dono. I need access to your seal."

Naruto blinked in confusion once before nodding. Hinata blushed as he started to lift his shirt. Her eyes widened when she saw the seal upon his stomach. "That looks just like the seal I saw in my dream recently." Hinata's eyes widened when she realized what was happening based on the vivid memories of her dream.

"This will sting Naruto-dono."

The seal started to lift from Naruto's body before he could pale at the thought. He rubbed the small ach in his stomach as the seal hovered in the air. "That wasn't too bad." The seal floated towards the Kyubi's cage.

The paper seals strained as Yondou used their power to divide the Kyubi into Yin and Yang once again. The Biju would be thrashing if he could move. He could feel the Yin chakra splitting to his left as the Yang chakra split to his right. "I'M GROWING SMALLER AND WEAKER WITH EACH SECOND! EVER SINCE THAT MAN CREATED ME, HUMANS HAVE BEEN CONTROLLING ME!"

Yondou noticed Hinata walking forward on his right side. "It appears Hinata understands and accepts what will be needed of her."

Naruto noticed her position as well. "GET AWAY FROM THERE HINATA-CHAN! IT'S DANGEROUS!"

Udekazari shook his head. "No Naruto-dono. Hinata-dono understands what will be needed from her."

Naruto turned his attention towards Udekazari. "What do you mean Jiji?"

"In order to keep the two halves of the Kyubi separate, the Yin half will require a new host."

Naruto's eyes widened. He then slashed the air with his arm. "THEN USE ALL EIGHT PARTS TO SEAL THE WHOLE THING IN ME!"

Udekazari turned his eyes upon the Hyuga. "That is~ possible, but you fail to take Hinata-dono's feelings into account."

Naruto immediately faced Hinata. "YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS HINATA-CHAN!"

She turned too looked over her shoulder. Both her eyes and her smile broadcasted her happiness. "My first concern when I learned you had the Kyubi sealed inside of you was not that you had to face that burden, but that I could not face it. I want to understand you better than anyone else. I know I can't know everything, but I want to be as close as possible. It sounds selfish, but that's what I want." She turned her head back and looked up at the seal floating in the air with a serious expression.

A few seconds of silence passed. "Baka!" Hinata glanced over to see Naruto walking up to her left side. He stopped a short distance away. "You're the least selfish person I know Hinata-chan."

Hinata smiled a blushed a bit. "Arigato."

As this occurred, Yondou finished splitting the Kyubi into bright red and dark blue orbs of chakra. "I will begin the sealing process. This will feel a bit unusual." The paper seals burned off and the gates holding in the massive spheres of chakra. The chakra started flowing in two separate streams along the sides of the seal. As the chakra turned towards its recipient, the seal started turning into white particles that split off and followed the two streams of chakra."

**Back in reality.**

The Nanabi Jinchuriki waved her hands in front of Yondou's eyes for the ninth time. "When this guy meditates, he gets into it. It is really cool."

She backed away when Yondou's eyes widened. "It's time to complete the split."

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**I put quite a bit into making sure that I answered plenty of possible questions in this chapter. Feel free to ask if you have any questions or critics. I've improved a lot and would like to continue doing so. There is just one thing that wasn't explained properly. I wonder who will ask the question.**

**Next Chapter: Hunting the Six-Tails.**


	3. Hunting the Six Tails: Chapter 2

Underlined speech is thought.

_Italicized words signify emphasis put on the words or a change in tone. You should be able to figure it out from the choice of words and the character._

_Sentences of thought that are completely italicized were spoken by another character while still being inside of the mind of the character that paragraph focuses on._

"**Bold thoughts are being transferred to the known recipient with others being unaware of the communication."**

CAPITALIZED SPEECH IS YELLING.

These are … interruptions in …speech caused … by things …like laughing,…crying, thought,.. and…others.

Words-with-dashes-between-them-consistently-signify-when-a-character-is-talking-too-fast-to-understand.

Words with tildes~ after them are spoken for longer~ periods of time.

Previously on The Greatest Sage: After watching the fusion of Naruto and Hinata into Yondou, Kisame began fighting the new person. The fusion of the two proved to be much stronger than either Naruto or Hinata. He easily fought off Kisame, finishing the fight with a jutsu called Almighty Push. With Kisame running away, Yondou enter a meditative state. Here, he met with Udekazari, Naruto, and Hinata. After answering their questions, he began telling them about how the seal containing the Kyubi had changed. In order to keep the Kyubi under control, Yondou and Udekazari would have to alter the seal from the inside. During this there was the option to divide the Kyubi into two parts once again by using two people. Hinata happily took this option. In the real world, the Nanabi jinchuriki watched at Yondou woke up.

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**For those who don't know, sempai is used for those who are years ahead of the speaker or of a higher ranking. I am using it in this chapter.**

**12-5-10**

**Hunting the Six-Tails**

The orange eyed jinchuriki watched Yondou as he started glowing a violet color. "What's he doing?" After a few seconds, streams of blue and red particles spread out from his body. The particles coalesced into two other human shapes. When it was over, the two who were originally fighting Kisame reappeared and Yondou was gone. She could only stare off in space in shock at the revelation.

The first one to regain a state of consciousness was Naruto. He quickly stood up and made his way over to Hinata. He reached over and started to move her shoulder a bit. "Hey, Hinata-chan. Wake up."

Naruto jumped in surprise when their bracelets started to glow. The collection of dual-colored particles took the form of Udekazari. "Hinata-dono will not be waking for a short time. Her body must adjust to the sealing of the Kyubi's Yin half. Until she wakes, you are free to ask me any questions."

The green haired jinchuriki stomped forward. "YEAH, I GOT PLENTY OF QUESTIONS FOR YOU GUYS!"

Naruto and Udekazari turned their attention to the green eyed girl. The elderly apparition quirked an eyebrow at her. "My apologies young lady, but I was not speaking to you." He looked directly at Naruto. "What will you ask me Naruto-dono?"

Naruto looked Udekazari in the eyes. "You kept talking about six sacred bloods and about how Hinata-chan and I are two of them. Where did these sacred bloods even come from?"

Udekazari closed his eyes in thought. "That is an old story about times long before now. It all started with the birth of the two sons of the Sage of Six Paths. The oldest son received the sage's Rinnegan and powerful chakra while the youngest received his body and unbreakable will. Though the sage was responsible for bringing prosperity by teaching shinobi arts to others, he had not been able to bring peace. Years later, his sons decided to take on that roll. The eldest son believed that peace could be attained through power. The youngest son believed that peace could be attained through love. On the sage's deathbed, mere hours after my creation, he decided that the youngest will succeed him. The eldest brother reacted furiously and attacked. This feud continued through their oldest daughters and the clans they gave birth to. The clan decent of the youngest was the Senju, known for being versatile and capable of many different types of jutsu across the clan. The clan decent of the eldest son became known as the Uchiha."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "Uchiha!"

Udekazari nodded. "You heard me correctly. I have come to know the Uchiha as those who desire control over what cannot be controlled. It is only fitting that a fan would be their symbol seeing that it has only a false control over wind. The power they obtained from the Rinnegan was the ability to perceive those around the user and the ability to mold reality and the thoughts of others."

This did little to answer Naruto's question. "What's this got to do with us?"

"I only spoke of the sage's eldest granddaughters. Each son had three daughters. The second daughter of the youngest son gave rise to a clan known for extraordinary vitality, energy, and chakra reserves. Since the spiral is often a symbol of power, it is no wonder that they became known as the Uzumaki"

Naruto's eyes widened again. "That's me."

"That is not all Naruto-dono. I have also come to learn that you are descendent from the Senju as well."

As Naruto tried to take this all in, he remembered someone else. "What about Hinata-chan."

Udekazari nodded in response. "Hinata-dono is next. The second daughter of the eldest son gave birth to the Hyuga clan. Their Byakugan takes from the Rinnegan the ability to perceive the flow of chakra and the world around them. I have known them to be shrew and steadfast. Once they had an idea or belief, they stuck with it through better or worse. They are also possessive. One way to get on a Hyuga's bad side is to take what they believe belongs to them, whether it is a person or an object. This all stems from a desire to rise up and stand above all those around them."

Naruto crossed his arms in slight anger. "That doesn't sound like Hinata-chan at all."

"Do not be so sure Naruto-dono. Hinata-dono certainly possesses these traits. They are simply hidden under the other sacred clan she is descent from, the Konsetsu. Born from the third daughter of the younger son, the Konsetsu were unique in how they distanced themselves from the shinobi arts. They inherited the sage's kindness and compassion. I only watched them for a short time, but you would have a hard time finding a kinder, more cordial group of individuals. Senju, Uzumaki, Hyuga and Konsetsu are the four sacred bloods that the two of you together represent."

Though Naruto was still reeling from the information that Udekazari was providing him, the blond could not help but ask one last question. "What about the sixth?"

"Yes. Born of the youngest daughter of the elder son, the sixth clan distanced themselves from most worldly affairs. They were known for distaste in social norms and even disrespect of them, the reason for their solitude. They still possessed the ability to assimilate into society but often chose not too due to it being either boring or tedious, which can combine dangerously with their innate creativity. Individuals usually joined society only to find those who would help expand the clan. Like the others born of the elder son, they possess a doujutsu. This doujutsu takes from the Rinnegan the ability to perceive every detail concerning chakra and how it is used, the way it behaves, along with its nature. This clan is known as the Ayama."

**The gates of Kirigakure:**

A group of four Kiri ANBU members waited for the arrival of their final member. Their leader waited at the edge of the gates three other men waited a short distance away conversing with themselves. All of them wore their ANBU masks with dark violet vests and black clothing underneath. The three separate ANBU took turns talking. "Have you guys heard of this Konoha jonin who's going to join us for this mission?"

"I heard that the moment that he learned that we are going after a jinchuriki, he insisted on joining the mission."

"I don't even understand why anyone from Konoha is here. For all we know he could be a spy."

"I'm not sure about that. I hear that Mizukage-sama actually trusts him. I also hear he's more of an idiot than anything else."

"Yeah. I heard that he jumped into the village's hot springs for the sole purpose of making every woman there angry at him. I even heard he did it all blindfolded just for the extra kick."

"That's insane."

"You'd think so but get what I heard from one of the women in the barracks. She says that the Konoha guy told her face-to-face the real reason he came here. That reason was just so he could play matchmaker between Mizukage-sama and Choujurou-sempai."

"I can't believe I'm saying this but you might be right. Choujurou-sempai did look like he started showing a little extra backbone lately."

"Now that I think about it, Mizukage-sama did look a bit different when she assigned us this mission. I'd even say she had a glazed look in her eyes."

"I wonder if it is even possible. This guy couldn't have been here for more than three days."

"That's true but I'm sure he came here with Mizukage-sama, Ao-sempai, and Choujurou-sempai. He may have used that extra time as well."

"Who in the world could this guy be?"

At the top of a tree, a man looked down at the three with eyes that had irises that seemed to shimmer the same shades of blue that chakra does. He has short dark-brown hair, a dark-blue windbreaker, white t-shirt, and cargo jeans matching his windbreaker. They all jump back in surprise and go on guard when he drops down on them. He gives them all a single wave and smiles. "Hey guys. You wouldn't be gossiping about me now. You should know that gossiping is bad for your karma." He laughs out loud. "Of course I'm one to talk since everything you said was true." He holds on his hand. "My name is Arashi Ayama and I will be joining you four on this little excursion." Arashi pulled out a small scroll. "All I have to do is send this to my Kage after we get to the mainland."

Their leader turned towards Arashi and walked the distance. "Will you show me that scroll."

Arashi rolled his eyes and held the scroll out to the man. "Whatever." The ANBU leader took the scroll and read it. He handed it back after examining it for a few seconds. "Let's get going."

"I hope you don't mind running across the sea."

Arashi smirked at the man. "Please~. You guys will be eating my waves. I'll even give you a head start. How does two hundred and fifty minutes sound?"

The three in the back started laughing at Arashi but the leader remained emotionless. "Getting to the mainland takes five hours at our top running speed. Are you saying that you can move twice as fast as fully trained members of Kiri's ANBU division?"

"Joining this mission was purely voluntary from the beginning. Don't let my individual decisions bother you. I can always track you down if I need to catch up. It's not like this is a stealth mission."

The leader turned his back to Arashi. "If you won't take this seriously then you should return to your own village." He looks back to see Arashi sprawled out on the ground. "Let's leave men."

"Hai!"

**Hidden Akatsuki Base:**

All the remaining members of Akatsuki or holograms of them looked down at Kisame Hoshigaki in either shock or apathy. Their leader, the one with short spiky hair and eyes that were completely lavender with dark rings that circle the pupils at regular distances from each other, was of the latter. "So you mission ended in failure. … Explain."

Kisame looked at their leader with the utmost seriousness instead of the gleeful smirk he usually had. "Something unexpected happened. It involves the Kyubi boy and the Hyuga that has been trained under Arashi Ayama."

"You were defeated."

"Yeah, but not by them or the other jinchuriki. The Hyuga and the Kyubi kid somehow fused into one person. He called himself Yondou."

The leader's eyes narrowed at this information. "Go on."

"This Yondou had all the two kids' jutsu but he was on a whole different level. There was one jutsu he had that they didn't. It hit me so hard; Samehada hardly could absorb any of the chakra. He called is Almighty Push."

The leader's eyes widened imperceptibly. "We will call this meeting off. Good work Kisame."

As all the holograms disappeared, Kisame narrowed his eyes in slight suspicion. "Our boss seemed more than surprised at my information. He reacted most at the names of Yondou and his jutsu."

**The tallest tower of Amegakure:  
**

The one with the same form as the Akatsuki leader opened his eyes. The wind blew through his orange hair under the cloudy skies. He wore a black cloak with red clouds, the cloak of Akatsuki. He had six black rods in his nose with a longer one piercing each ear twice. Six tiny rings pierced the outsides of the ears. Two small black spikes stuck out from the bottom lip. "So they fused into a man of four paths." He looked to his right where another man wearing the Akatsuki cloak sat. He had an orange mask with a black spiral design with one hole over the right eye. The only other feature was black spiky hair. "Should we be worried?"

The man remained motionless. "I won't lie to you. This is completely unforeseen. It is possible that this Yondou approaches the power of the Sage of Six paths like yourself. We cannot act recklessly. … That said; we need to capture another jinchuriki. We only have the power of two Biju, the Gobi and the Sanbi. I have sent Sasuke and his team after the Rokubi. He will not fail us."

"I hope not."

"What will you do?"

The orange haired man paused for a few seconds. "I will go to Konoha."

**The sea near the Land of Lightning's border:**

The Kiri ANBU finished running past a small island and closed the distance to the mainland. One of the three subordinates laughed. "We have reached the mainland and that Arashi is still behind." 

Their leader looked back at them. "We shouldn't concern ourselves with the actions of an outsider." He suddenly stops running. Seeing this, his subordinates stopped as well. "Impossible." They looked back and had a similar reaction. They could see two walls of water heading towards them on the edge of the island they passed. In the middle of these walls of water was Arashi running at unbelievable speeds. The leader's eyes widened behind his mask. "TO SHORE NOW!"

Arashi watches them as they speed towards shore. "Time for my favorite part." Arashi performed a quick hop into the air. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Two clones appeared behind Arashi. Using their chakra, the clones latched both of their feet to the original's. The original pulled his jacket as close to his skin as they all brought their legs as close to their selves as possible. With one powerful motion, Arashi and his clones released a large amount of chakra from their feet and jumped. "YAHOO~~~!" Arashi sailed past the ANBU as if they were standing still while forming hand-seals. "SPECIAL TAILOR STYLE: PARACHUTE JUTSU!" Arashi opens up his wind breaker. In the next instant the article of clothing becomes more than ten times original size. In a matter of seconds Arashi's forward momentum ended and he came to a stop on the shore. His windbreaker quickly shrank down to wearable size.

The other ANBU caught up seconds later. Arashi turned around and started waving at them happily. "Hey guys! It looks like I did get here in half the time it took you." He looked up at the sky thoughtfully. "Though I don't expect you to believe that I gave you guys a 150 minute head-start." Arashi shrugged his shoulders before biting his thumb and quickly weaving the summoning hand-seals. "Summoning Jutsu."

He placed his hands on the ground, causing a large puff of smoke. The smoke cleared to reveal a large salamander with a black body, a blue stripe down its back, and a blue tail. It stood at the height of a small dog and had the length of a larger dog. "Hey Arashi. Am I going to Kumo or Konoha?"

Arashi presented a scroll to the salamander. "Konoha." The moment the salamander took the scroll into its mouth, it began running into the trees. Arashi turned his attention towards the Kiri ANBU. "Let's get started on this mission. We need to find Utakata and convince him to come back to Kirigakure. It is an S-ranked mission because he has a history of killing his pursuers."

The ANBU leader stepped forward and looked Arashi in the eyes. "I am the leader here, not you. I do not need any outsiders usurping my authority."

Arashi looked at him blankly before smiling. "We should stick around and rest a bit. Running like that must be exhausting for you and your men. I'll be in the forest doing some light training."

The ANBU leader was instantly angered by Arashi's comment. He knew that his men would be exhausted and could feel it his self; but the idea of someone who treated the trip with such levity pointing it out only made him want to keep going.

**Hokage's Tower in Konoha hours later:**

The Hokage Tsunade looked down at a scroll she recently received. "Out of all times to receive something like this. The Tsuchigumo clan is requesting help from us. I don't even know anyone near that location."

The sudden sound of something tapping her window caused Tsunade to turn around. What she saw was a summoned salamander carrying a scroll in it's mouth. She opened the window and let the amphibian in. It leapt to her desk and dropped the scroll. "This is from Arashi."

She looked at the scroll suspiciously. "What could he want?"

She grabbed the scroll and proceeded to read it. 'Hello. I will be joining some of Kiri's ANBU on a little mission. We landed on the southern coast of the Land of Lightning and heading west. I'll see you after we are done.'

Tsunade's eyes widened slightly. "This couldn't be more perfect." She looked up at the salamander. "Tell Arashi that I have a mission for him that is in the general direction he is heading. An allied clan is being attacked and needs assistance. They are known as the Tsuchigumo. It's all on this mission scroll." She handed the other scroll over to the salamander. It took the scroll in its mouth and disappeared.

**Back with Arashi:**

With the four ANBU still tired from their trip, Arashi easily maintained the position at the head of the group. They all stopped when a cloud of smoke appeared in front of Arashi. This smoke cleared to reveal the same salamander. "What's this about Hitomaru?" The salamander held out the scroll it received which Arashi took. He opened it and read it over before beginning to chuckle. "Interesting." Arashi looked back at the Kiri ANBU who were trying to hide the fact that they were catching their breath. "I just got a new mission from my Kage."

He tossed the scroll over to them and ran west at a much greater speed than before. The ANBU leader caught the scroll and glanced at it. His eyes widened in surprise. "This is the same location as the last sighting of Utakata."

_**80808080808080808080**_

**The main idea of this chapter is to start bringing everything together. At this point, it shouldn't be hard to guess what I will be doing. That said, I still have some twists planned.**

**Next Chapter: Shishou and Student.**


	4. Shishou and Student: Chapter 3

Underlined speech is thought.

_Italicized words signify emphasis put on the words or a change in tone. You should be able to figure it out from the choice of words and the character._

_Sentences of thought that are completely italicized were spoken by another character while still being inside of the mind of the character that paragraph focuses on._

"**Bold thoughts are being transferred to the known recipient with others being unaware of the communication."**

CAPITALIZED SPEECH IS YELLING.

These are … interruptions in …speech caused … by things …like laughing,…crying, thought,.. and…others.

Words-with-dashes-between-them-consistently-signify-when-a-character-is-talking-too-fast-to-understand.

Words with tildes~ after them are spoken for longer~ periods of time.

Previously on The Greatest Sage: With Kisame gone, Yondou broke the fusion apart and shocked the other Jinchuriki as a result. As Hinata's unconscious body adjusted to the sudden change, Udekazari explained to Naruto about the six clans decent from the Sage of Six Paths. The names included were Senju, Uchiha, Uzumaki, Hyuga, Konsetsu, and Ayama. All the way to Kirigakure, a group of Kiri ANBU waited for an outside addition to their team while talking about the stories they've heard of this person. Finished eavesdropping on them, the man drops from a tree and introduces his self as Arashi Ayama. Even after giving them a major head start, Arashi catches up with them at the southern shores of the Land of Lightning. As this happened, Akatsuki received info on Yondou, enticing Pain to go to Konoha and the true leader to send Sasuke after Arashi's target. Back with Arashi, he let Tsunade know what he was doing and received a mission with an apparent connection to Kiri's target.

_**80808080808080808080**_

**I think there will be some instances of present tense getting mixed into the past tense. I am writing an original story written in first person and present tense.**

**12-19-10**

**Shishou and Student**

Arashi wasted no time in reaching the first destination of his newly acquired mission, a tall plateau with extremely steep sides. The place was surrounded by hidden traps which Arashi easily passed. When he climbed the plateau, he found a large mansion. "This place is nice~." Arashi ran into the building and quickly found an injured old man who looked to be in his late fifties. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." The clone and Arashi ran up to the man and immediately began performing medical jutsu. "Are you okay?"

The man coughed and opened his eyes. "You must be the aid I sent for. … Are you the only one?"

Arashi smirked at him. "Don't worry about that. My skills are on par with any Kage."

"I see~." He coughs again. "You need to find Hotaru. You will find her … with a man named Utakata. Tell them that … Tonbee sent you and they should trust you."

Arashi stood up and turned his back on the man and his clone. "Thanks for the help." A massive grin developed on Arashi's face. "This mission has gotten fun." He jumped down the other side of the plateau and into a large forest. It wasn't hard for him to find a trail of two people running away from his location. He also notices trails being left behind by a group of four. "Looks like my targets have quite a few admirers." Arashi runs through the trees, focusing entirely upon the single pair. Along the way, Arashi shakes his head when the other four spread out from that trail. The instant Arashi sees two people, he leaps up and uses a thick tree limb to swing around and face them.

The two people Arashi notices are female and male. The female's hair is between blond and brown with green eyes. She wears a violet top with white trimmings, black shorts, black skirt, black high boots and violet wristbands. Arashi estimates that her full height would only reach the middle of Hinata's forehead yet her body has more accented curves. The male is tall and thin and wearing a light blue kimono with dark blue trimmings and an orange sash. . A bamboo jug is secured at the middle of his waist. His neck length hair is dark brown and covers half his face. His eyes are an interesting color of pale gold.

At some point, the male pulled out a small pipe and pointed at Arashi. Numerous bubbles flowed out from the pipe and towards Arashi. Despite the non-threatening appearance, Arashi knew better. "Your turn Setsumaru." Arashi reached into his windbreaker then a sword flashed out, destroying the bubbles.

The one Arashi recognized at Utakata dashed forward and pushed against Setsumaru with his pipe. "Run Hotaru!"

Arashi pushed Utakata, tripped him, and then jumped in front of Hotaru before she could move from her spot. As Arashi reached an open hand for her head, Hotaru closed tensed up in preparation for the unexpected. She was surprised when he simply patted her head. "Now there~. I'm a friend." Arashi removed his hand and looked up at the male. "You two are Utakata and Hotaru right. I'm the guy from Konoha that the old man at the mansion sent for."

Utakata narrowed his eyes. "You arrived a little quickly to be from Konoha."

"I happened to be in the area and my Kage likes to dump missions on who's available."

Utakata's expression relaxed a bit. "So he's here to help Hotaru. He may have _happened to be in the area_, but his skill is undeniable." He turns his back to them. "I'll leave her to you."

Hotaru began stepping forward and extending a hand pleadingly. "Utakata-shishou!" He disappeared before she could finish. She tries to follow, but Arashi grabs her arm. "Let me go!"

"Stop struggling." She does as he asked. "Just know that I can grab you before you can even finish thinking of running away." After letting her go, they calmly stood there for a few seconds. "Are you really his student?" She looked Arashi in the eyes and nodded vehemently, which Arashi smiled at. "If that's the case then you are as much his responsibility as you are mine. Let's go show him what that means."

Arashi's words lighted up her eyes and brought a smile to her face. "Really!"

"Of course." Arashi lowered his self to one knee. "Now get on my back."

She looked at him with slight skepticism. "Okay~."

As soon as Arashi could feel her weight on his back, he stood up. "Let me ask you something else. … Is your grip strong?"

Hotaru blinked in confusion at the unexpected question. "Yeah~, I guess so."

Arashi smiled widely. "In that case, you may die."

Her eyes widened. "Wait, what?" She latched on like a vice as Arashi began running forward. It only lasted a few seconds yet it felt like an eternity to her. Her hair stood out to the back just a little. Even though her feet were on a solid surface, she couldn't get her bearings.

As Hotaru stumbled behind his position, Arashi focused his attention on Utakata, who stood on the same branch Arashi stopped on. "Tell me. Why are you so ready to get rid of Hotaru-chan? I can tell from hearing it once that she proudly calls you her shishou."

Utakata's eyes ticked in anger. "I am no one's shishou! I'd never want a title like that!"

For Arashi, memories of the few short years that he spent at Hinata's shishou filled his mind. He remembered the time when they first met, the thing they first trained in, Hinata's first birthday experience, the time she was almost violated by Hidan of Akatsuki, the time the aforementioned experience helped her grow, when she first used the Infinite Palm in battle, when she fought Sasuke Uchiha, when she mastered her center of gravity, and finally when she matched Yugito Nii in combat. With all these memories in his head, Arashi narrowed his eyes at Utakata. "This just became personal buddy. Have you taught her anything?"

"I only showed her something and she figured it out herself."

"Regardless, you have to finish what you started. She sees you as a respectable person and you need to live up to that expectation."

Utakata narrowed his eyes. "I told you. I am not such a fool as to want the title of shishou." Utakata turned his back on them.

Before he could run away again, Arashi stepped in his way and glared into his eyes. "Say that again … I dare you."

The look in Arashi's eyes was enough to convince Utakata to take a step back. "What's your problem?"

Arashi's fierce gaze relaxed just a little bit. "I'll admit that my first experience with a shishou wasn't the best years of my life. Truth be told, I was little more than an experiment to him. Searching for a way to exact revenge on the terrible things he did to me, I went overseas and encountered six more that I would come to call shishou." His expression relaxed a little more. "With no knowledge of chakra, these six trained only their bodies. Even the weakest of them could fight on par with a Kage. Though each was insane in their own ways, they taught me what a true shishou and student relationship is like." His expression began to relax completely. "I returned intent on having my own student. Those three years were some of the best of my life." Arashi's eyes intensified once again. "I see that you two would get along well. Don't act like it will end badly because I know it won't."

After that, Utakata stood his ground and glared back. "What do you know? My shishou tried to kill me!"

"Boohoo~. My first shishou killed my father, took me from my home, threatened to kill my clan if I left, let me go when he was done with me, then killed them anyways. Stop pushing your problems onto others and get over it." Arashi turned his back on Utakata the looked down at Hotaru. "Come on. This _child~_ isn't ready to be anyone's shishou." As Arashi walked past her, Hotaru stood her ground. "Aren't you coming?"

"No." Arashi turned around and looked down at the back of Hotaru's head. "I don't care what anyone says. He will always be Utakata-shishou to me."

After a few seconds, Arashi smiled. "Well said Hotaru-chan." He started to look up at Utakata yet he turned his attention elsewhere. "We have some interlopers."

Moments later, four other shinobi appeared. Two of them were big guys. One wore a simple shirt and pants. The other large one wore a dark outfit with the resembling a karate outfit and had long sideburns. The third was an older, ugly looking man with a large shuriken on his back. The last was one with much fancier clothing, and longer hair with violet tufts in the front. Despite this one's feminine appearance, Arashi easily recognized him as a male.

The short one with the oversized shuriken laughed. "Look at this. I think we have another one to play with."

Arashi glared at them with a great fierceness. "We are having an emotional moment here. I recommend you guys leave before I make you."

The gaunt man laughed at Arashi. "Hilarious. All of you are outnumbered."

"And you are outmatched."

The man's gleeful expression ended. "Take this then." He pulled his shuriken out and began spinning it rapidly.

He threw the shuriken at Arashi, which was easily caught between the fingers. Arashi took that shuriken and began spinning it just like the other guy did. "Let me repeat myself. Leave now before I make you." Arashi narrowed his eyes. "You won't get another warning."

The girly one smirked at Arashi then spoke with a very deep voice. "What are you going to do … kill us?"

Arashi shook his head side to side. "No. Killing people is against my policy."

The one who threw the shuriken went from looking scared to being confident again. "What kind of shinobi are you? You actually think you can get through this without killing us? I've met some real fools in my life but you take the cake. If you can't use it, then give me my shuriken back."

"No." Arashi tossed the spinning shuriken into the air then drew Setsumaru through the aerial weapon. It split off into four directions in the next instant as Arashi sheathed his katana. He then turned his attention on the other four. "Time's up."

The one with the sideburns crossed the air with his arms. "Surround him."

"Shadow Clone Jutsu." Arashi created four clones which each went after one of the others. The true Arashi grabbed Hotaru. He looked around and saw that someone was missing. "I have to give that guy points for being able to sneak away without me noticing. Let's go Hotaru. I won't be satisfied until that guy really is your shishou." Arashi ran off as his clones dealt with the other four. He looked up in the air and noticed something most people would be able to. Arashi slowed his pace and started running along the top of the canopy.

Looking at Arashi's concentrated expression, Hotaru tried to trace his vision but saw nothing. Her curiosity eventually got the best of her. "What are you looking at?"

"You'll see soon enough." After a few more moments, Arashi's focus slowly lowered. When Arashi stopped, a loud pop was heard and Utakata appeared upon on the trees.

Utakata glared into Arashi's eyes as he let Hotaru down. "How could you tell I was there?"

Arashi pointed at his eyes. "I have a doujutsu that is called Keikigan. This doujutsu gives me to precisely gauge the aspects of the chakra of a person or a jutsu. Since that large bubble you were in had some of the same aspects of chakra the bubbles you attacked me with, it was obvious you were in that bubble. My Keikigan is best used to gauge how much chakra someone has and estimate their strength."

"I want you to leave me alone."

Arashi narrowed his eyes. "Sorry but that is not going to happen. I want to hear the story behind your shishou trying to kill you."

"We don't have time for that! We haven't formed any distance between us and our pursuers."

Arashi smiled. "Don't worry about them. They haven't managed to destroy one of my clones yet." A loud explosion was heard a distance away. "I don't know what happened but my clones are still holding them off."

Hotaru looked back where they came from. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. My clones can go head to head with even low leveled jonin in a full out jutsu battle. I know those four don't have much in the way of ninjutsu, leaving mostly taijutsu. My clones can handle the average jonin in that situation. We should be fine."

Utakata clenched his fists in frustration. "This man's overconfidence is unbelievable. How can he expect clones to be able to keep them away?"

"Shadow Clone Jutsu."

The clone picked Hotaru up, much to her surprise. "What are you doing?"

"This is a private conversation Hotaru-chan." Before she could protest, the clone carried her away. As her screams of terror faded, Arashi looked Utakata in the eyes. "Make one of those bubbles to hide us just in case." Arashi pointed to his left. "That's where my clone took Hotaru-chan. That's where we are going." Utakata glared at Arashi as he began blowing a large bubble on his pipe. Arashi leapt into this bubble as it formed. Once fully formed, the bubble began floating in the direction Arashi pointed in. "Now tell me what happened."

Within a short time, Utakata told Arashi of his shishou Harusame. Though the story reminded Arashi of a fairly normal student Shishou relationship, the ending was extremely suspicious. Utakata had no memory of what Harusame said at the moment of truth. Arashi tried to explain this suspicion to Utakata, but he would not hear it.

As they talked, Hotaru and the clone arrived at the destination village. With Hotaru at his side, the clone looked around and surveyed the village. "I can see why you never wanted to come here. Everyone here is treating you like a plague." An elderly man stepped out, drawing the clone's attention. "Are you the leader here?"

He nodded. "I am. … Your services are not needed any more. You may leave now."

The clone smirked. "I would, but you're under the control of someone's jutsu. I'm not sure I should trust that person."

Moment's later, large numbers of villagers started walking out of the buildings. Hotaru looked side to side with a worried expression. "What's happening?"

The clone glared as he surveyed it all. "We have a coward who uses weaker people without hesitation. Whoever this is, they won't get off easy. We'll have to deal with these puppets first."

She looked up at him in surprise. "You can't be thinking of hurting them."

The clone smiled. "Of course not." He raced through a set of hand-seals. "Chakra Screen Jutsu." Though it looked like nothing happened, he began running through the crowd. As he did this, those he ran by began to react as if they were just waking up.

Only three seconds passed before he was standing next to Hotaru again. "What did you do?"

"My Chakra Screen Jutsu. It creates a field around my self that forces those within this field to have normal chakra flow. This stops all genjutsu, enchantment jutsu, and in this case, control jutsu." The clone's eyes widened when he noticed someone in the distance to his left. "WATCH OUT!" He charged directly there.

Resting in the cloaked bubble, Arashi's eyes widened. "We have trouble."

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**I am rushing this part of my story as much as I can. I just compressed four to six episodes of anime into one chapter. I want to get to the interesting part fast.**

**Next Chapter: Fury.**


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